Hi, and welcome back to The Unseen Podcast, a podcast dedicated to missing
people, unresolved cases, and UK true crime. Today, we're going to
be exploring the murder of fifteen year old Yvonne Laker in nineteen sixty four.
Her murder, which happened while she was traveling on a train, shocked to
the country, given that Yvonne was just fifteen years old and what happened to
her in broad daylight was so brutal and unnecessary. Despite the outrage that everyone
felt, her murder was not solved and still remains unsolved to this day.
This episode is about the murder of a child and so listener discretion is advised.
Basingstoke Train Station was built to serve the town of Basingstoke in the County
of Hampshire. It lies between Southampton, Winchester Reddin and is also around forty
eight miles from London. On the twenty ninth of June nineteen sixty four,
a routine train service between Southampton and Reddin pulled into Basingstoke station at just before
four point thirty pm. This was a service which regularly passed through Basingstoke and
passengers both got on and off at the station. One of the passengers that
got on at the station was twelve year old Michael's sap. He had been
spending the day train spot in. He got on the train and when he
entered one of the compartments, he later recounted that he noticed that the toilet
door was open. He spotted what he described as the legs of a lady,
and then a pool of blood all over the floor. Michael immediately shouted
into another compartment and told them what he'd seen. Another passenger pulled the communication
card and Michael quickly made the decision to jump back onto the railway track and
run back to Basingstoke station. The train had just pulled out of the station
and he made his way back to try and locate a doctor. This was
an emergency situation and Michael thought very quickly on his feet. Police and emergency
services were immediately dispatched to the scene. It reported that when police initially looked
into the toilet in the compartment, the scene looked as though it could have
been a suicide. However, it soon became apparent that this was not at
all what it was. The police found the body of a young woman in
the toilet of the train compartment. She had evident severe injuries to her neck.
The postmartem that was later conducted by doctor Keith Simpson established that the woman
had died from shock and hemorrhage due to her throat being cut. This was
a brutal attack and it was clear that whoever had committed it was extremely dangerous.
It did not take long for the police to establish who the victim was,
given that her belongings were still in the compartment. The young woman was
found to be in fact a child, fifteen year old Yvonne Laker. Yvonne
had boarded the train at Southampton and was on her way back to Maidstone Catholic
Convent, a Catholic boarding school. Yvonne's parents, Sergeant Peter Laker and her
mum Ursula, were living in Singapore, along with Yvonne's younger brother Robert.
Her father was a sergeant in the RAF and both Yvonne and their other son,
Christopher, were at boarding schools in the south of the UK. Thirteen
year old Christopher was at a school in Oxford. Discovered that Yvonne had been
staying with her grandparents in the area of Barton on Sea, a Coastal village
in Hampshire. That morning, her grandfather, Major Cyril Laker, had dropped
Iton off at the train station in Southampton. She had boarded at three twenty
five pm that afternoon and the train had left Basingstoke station at four twenty eight
pm, with her body being found shortly after this. The police was shocked
by the brutality of the crime and the brazen nature of it taking place during
daytime with other people on the train. How had this happened? There was
hope that someone must have seen something important or relevant during that time. Early
on in the investigation, police were interested in trying to establish when on the
journey this murder had taken place. The train was evacuated after the discovery of
the body, and the remaining passengers were transferred to a relief train. This
allowed police to look more carefully at the crime scene, and they also searched
the train tracks. A beret and some shoes were discovered on the tracks near
the station of Mitchell Deva, north of Winchester. This they thought could initially
point to where the murder may have taken place on the journey. These items
were later identified as belonging to Yvonne. The journey between Mitchell Dever and Basingstoke
would have taken around twenty minutes. The compartment that Yvonne was traveling in was
crucial to the police investigation, and they concentrated their efforts to trying to find
as much evidence as they could. The working theory was that Yvonne may have
been initially attacked in the compartment and then her body had been dragged to the
toilet where her throat had been cut. This was a murder with such vas
violence that nobody could comprehend, particularly when the victim was only a child.
Detective Chief Superintendent Walter Jones, who was leading the investigation, described the murder
to the press as the work of a maniac, showing his level of shock
and disgust at what had happened. There were some very important pieces of evidence
found in the compartment which police wanted to immediately find out more about. On
the seat behind where Yvonne had been sitting, police found a brown paper carrier
bag. When they looked inside the bag, they discovered what looked to be
the remains of someone's lunch. Given that police were working on the theory that
Yvanne's attacker had been in the compartment and had been sack close to her.
They were very interested in this. Inside the bag they found a bread roll,
a lettuce and cucumber sandwich, and a half eaten packet of biscuits.
The pack it had been the brand Saint Michael, meaning that they came from
the shop Marx and Spencer. Police believed that this bag and its contents were
very significant and so they appealed for anyone that had been on the train to
come forward if they believed that they had seen someone eating this particular packet of
biscuits. They also appealed to the public and one headline from the time read
did you pack the Killer's lunch? Police explained that they believed there was a
wife, a mother or a landlady out there who packed this man's lunch and
that they may remember it and make the contents of it regularly. They believed
this as the brown bag looked as though it had been folded many times,
as though used a lot. Police even went so far as to trace the
bread wrapper that was inside the brown bag. This came from Midland made Farmhouse
Bread, which originated from East Midland Cops Operative Bakery at Langley Mill in Derbyshire.
The mill told police that they distributed to long Filton, Ilkston, Langley
Mill, Ripley, Derbyshire, Grantham, Lancashire, and Selstone, Nottinghamshire.
This could help them to narrow down who this lunch had belonged to and perhaps
who was in the compartment with Yvonne. Police had also found some fragments of
green glass, both in the compartment and on the track outside the train.
This they believe came from the glass bottle which was used to murder Yvonne.
This glass bottle was found through investigation to have come from a sherry bottle due
to the markings that had been left on it. This was also crucial information.
Through investigation, police were able to establish a timeline for Yvonne's murder.
She had set off on the train at three twenty five pm and had been
seen off by her grandfather. There was reportedly no one else in her compartment
at that time. At three point fifty eight, the train left the Winchester
stop and police believed that this may have been where the killer had got onto
the train. At four oh eight pm, the train stopped at Mitchell Deva
and witnesses that were on the train had told police that there was no man
left in the compartment at that point. The train then carried on to Basingstoke
and it was then that police believed that Yvonne was killed, and she was
then found as the train pulled out of Basingstoke at four twenty eight pm.
They were actually dealing with quite a tight timeline for when this could have happened,
and this should have made the investigation easier. However, the lack of
witnesses who actually saw anything suspicious that day made this difficult. Despite this,
it appeared that police had made good progress with the investigation and in just over
a week they had made an arrest. It's reported that on the eighth of
July, the police had arrested a twenty seven year old man for Yvonne's murder.
It was revealed that this man was an unemployed farm worker named Derrek Pie.
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you for listening to this sponsor and for supporting the podcast. Derek Pie was
a married father of three and so when he attended his first court hearing,
there was a lot of interest in him. What was the evidence against this
unassuming husband and father and why did police believe that he had killed ivonn Officers
covered his head so that the crowds of people could not immediately get a look
at him. However, in the subsequent pre trial hearings that followed, a
lot more information about Pie would be revealed. It was discovered that Derek Pie
had arrived on the police's radar after he had been taken into custody on a
different charge. On July the second days after Yvonne's murder, Derrick had knocked
on the door of his neighbor, missus Elizabeth Stewart Naedler, at high Point,
Ditton Hall, Farnham in Surrey. She stated that he looked a mess.
The left side of his face and his left hand were covered in blood,
and his shirt was bloodstained. He told her that he'd been hit by
a car that had failed to stop and he needed some help. She agreed
to take him to Farnham Hospital. On the way to the hospital, he
got out of her car to use a phone box, which he told her
he was using to ring his wife. He then used the phone box in
the backyard of the pub. He left that yard and used another phone box
across the road. After using this phone, he then reportedly just walked off
down the road. This was an odd occurrence for someone who was so desperate
to get to the hospital. However, it would turn out that what he
had told his neighbor was not true story, as a few days later he
was arrested on charges of taking and driving a car. It turned out he
had taken someone's car, driven it away, and driven into a telegraph pole.
He was not hit by a car, which is what he'd stated it
was. While in custody, however, that a link between Pie and Yvonne's
murder was established. A police officer later testified that he found Pie crying in
his cell while in custody, and he told this officer that he had seen
someone dragging Yvonne Laker through the compartment and that he was there that day on
the train. He said he had entered the compartment with Yvonne and another man.
He went to the toilet and when he came back, Yvonne was leaning
on the man. The man told Pie that Yvonne was sick and then proceeded
to take her to the toilet. They were then in there around two to
three minutes. When the man emerged, Pie said he asked if the woman
was okay, and the man told him it's none of your business. Police
believed that this account was untrue and actually Pie had been the person who had
killed von that day and he had put himself in that compartment with her.
They did concede that they had no scientific evidence to prove this. The prosecution
at these hearings did present some evidence, however, that was not just circumstantial.
Michael Isaac's, a Scotland yard scientist, testified that he had found a
tiny fragment of green glass in the right hand pocket of a soue owned by
Derek Pie. Mister Isaac said that he examined hundreds of fragments and pieces of
green glass found by detectives on the train and on the railway track. He
had built up the base of a bottle with some of these pieces. The
pieces showed the letters GBC, which were Roade numbers on all bottles of the
brand Quest, which was a sherry bottle. The fragment in Pie's pocket was
only just visible to the naked eye, and so he could not say for
deafinite that it came from the same bottle. Police officers who searched Pie's home
explained that they had found some Quester sherry bottles and confirmed that they took the
suit from his home. In the end, Pie had been interrogated for thirteen
and a half hours, and for his part, he denied having anything to
do with the murder and stated that the only thing he did was holed the
toilet door open for the man, he did not murder her. Despite his
denials, he was committed to trial in September. Pie's defense team told the
judge they didn't think they had enough time to prepare for a trial beginning in
November. However, the judge disagreed and the trial continued as planned. While
these hearings were taking place, Yvonne's family were coming to terms with her unnecessary
loss. Her funeral took place at New Milton in Hampshire. However, her
family were determined to keep this as private as possible and wanted to grieve without
the crowds of onlookers who often do appear in high profile cases such as hers.
During Derrek Pye's trial, a ticket collector who had been on the train
that day confirmed that he had seen him and that he had indeed been there
on that day that Yvonne had been murdered. This, however, did not
help too much, as Pie admitted he was on the train, but he
said he'd seen another man in the compartment. The ticket collector did also confirm
that there was another man in the compartment at one stage, but he didn't
know if this other man had got out earlier, and therefore this would have
left Pie and Yvonne alone. This witness testimony was of course jumped on by
the defense, who stated that this proved if someone else was in the compartment
and raised reasonable doubt that Derek Pie had committed the murder. During the trial,
the bold move of taking the judge and the jury to the train compartment
where Yvonne had been killed was made. The prosecution questioned Pie, stating that
he could have heard about Yvonne's murder in the newspaper and produced a daily Mirror
paper from the thirtieth of June, where it outlined the train that she traveled
on and showed a picture of her. This implied that Derek had plenty of
time to come forward with the information that he knew, but he didn't.
Pie stated that the Mirror was his usual paper, but that he didn't normally
read about murders, so he wouldn't have seen it. Another odd piece of
information that came out during Pie's questioning is that he'd noticed that there was glass
on the floor in the compartment and that he thought this was quite dangerous and
admitted to throwing a piece of it out of the window. Other witnesses were
also called, including a man named Ronald Bridges who was working in his tractor
cutting a field of hay around four thirty pm close to the route between Mitchell
dev and Basingstoke. He said he's Sarah man he presumed was walking from the
railway tracks. He was of adverage height in his twenties, with brushed back
hair, wearing a dark jacket and trousers. He thought the man was carrying
something but he only took a quick glimpse, so wasn't sure it reported quite
a few people use that route and so it wasn't that unusual to see someone
there. Another witness called Joseph Discipline also Sarah Man, around thirty two to
thirty five years of age, standing around a quarter of a mile from the
railway tracks. Derrick Pye's trial lasted seven days and the jury deliberated for six
and a half hours before returning with the herm verdict. Derek Pye was acquitted
of murdering Yvonne Laker. It was clear that the prosecution had not proved guilt
beyond a reasonable doubt. This was not the end of the stories for Derek
Pie, however. The judge stated that this case attracted the utmost revulsion and
horror, and despite the fact that Pie had been acquitted of Avonn's murder,
he had two further indictments against him which he would have to stand trial for.
His defense team argued that he had already spent four and a half months
in prison on the murder trial and that he should be allowed to go.
They alluded that the charges were something to do with Pye's wife. However,
the judge said, I was not thinking of the charge concerning her, I
was thinking of the charge concerning arson. It's reported that Pye had set a
light a barn, broke into a house in Basingstoke and set fire to furniture.
He was convicted of those three charges, but acquitted of the charges of
setting fire to another three barns in the area. He was sentenced to serve
eighteen months in prison for these offenses. Pie's wife, Irene, stated that
she would stand by him and wait for him to get out. This was
a very strange set of events, and while Pie was acquitted through lack of
evidence of Yvanne's murder, it was clear that he did have a criminal past,
which included setting fires, stealing cars, and possibly some charges involving his
wife. This verdict left Ivan's case back at square one. What had looked
like a promising lead in the beginning turned out to be the opposite. So
the question was where did they go from here with the investigation. In the
years that followed, police did continue to try and solve the murder and appealed
for information from people who may have been on the train, and tried to
track down as many leads as they could. However, this proved fruitless.
Strangely, Yvon's was not the only murder to have happened on a train.
In the years that followed, other murders took place, which served to put
Yvonne's case back in the headlines. In April nineteen sixty five, thirty one
year old Enid May Wheeler, aged thirty one, was found dying on the
railway line between Aldershot and ashe Vale on the Surrey Hampshire border. She later
died of her injuries. It was later found that Patrick Jenner, a laborer,
had been arrested for the murder of Enid May Wheeler and had been caught
through bloodstains and fibers on his clothes, a tie clip found near the body,
a knife discovered near the track, as well as a palm print in
the compartment. While her crime got solved, it again drew attention to Yvonne's
case that remained unsolved. Another murder also took place In September nineteen sixty five,
A twenty three year old woman was found dead on a train from Bogna,
Regis in Sussex to Victoria in London. She was discovered in the front
compartment of the train that had left Bogna, Regis some time after four o'clock
and got into Gatwick Airport at five thirty one pm. Two special coaches were
attached to the train at that point, and it was then that the driver
looked into the compartment and saw the body under the seat. Twenty CID men,
led by Detective Superintendent John Place, went to the scene and found signs
of a desperate struggle. Blood was splashed all over the compartment and she had
had her throat slashed. This was a worry for investigators who now had their
third train murder in eighteen months. Why was this happening and how did it
keep happening without people witnessing it. The victim was identified as Patricia Willard,
a trainee teacher. Michael Gillis was eventually convicted of the murder, and he
stated that he killed Patricia because she was showing too much leg on the train
and that all the hate and resentment I had for women came to my head.
They had gone past the point of no return, and I do not
remember what happened between this and stabbing her in the throat. Gillis was convicted
of manslaughter on account of diminished responsibility due to an abnormality of the brain at
the time of the murder. Patricia and Enid's murders were solved and they did
receive some justice for what happened to them, but unfortunately Yvonne has not,
and to this day, Yvonne's murder has not been solved. The case is
nearly sixty years old and police did not seem to have been any closer to
finding out who killed her. It isn't clear if police believe that they did
have their man with Derek Pye and therefore did not look much closer at anyone
else, or just that other suspects did not emerge in the investigation. It
would be interesting to note if either of the other suspects in the other murders
were looked at after their convictions. Ivan's case has become part of history with
no real investigation having taken place. Since it is a very cold case now
this many years later, there is always some hope that Ivan's case will be
solved, and I maintain this hope for her and her family. If you
know anything about the murder of Yvonne Laker, then please contact police on one
oh one. Thank you for listening, and thank you so much to Factor
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I'm Caprice and this has been Unseen the sh